Beach Bear
Robert Bernard Miserliness, more commonly known as Beach Bear (born January 18, 1962) is an American musician known for his contributions to the pop and rock band The Rock-afire Explosion. History Beach was born at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska to a former US Army paratrooper and a civil rights activist. His sister, Barbara Stringsband, was a fox. He received his first guitar, a red 1966 La Baye 2x4 "Six", at age 7. As a child, Beach Bear lived in Unalaska and Anchorage, Alaska, and Orlando, Florida. Beach has cited various children's records, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, and Kansas as sources of inspiration in his musical career. Personal life Beach Bear came out as gay in 1998. He married Rolfe DeWolfe in Vermont in 2000 and they live in Lunenburg, Massachusetts with their 5 kids. During the Rock-afire's heydays in the 80's and 90's, Beach usually stayed locked up in his trailer with his pet chickens during gigs and festivals and avoided any and all contact with other people, only emerging to perform with his band. He and his husband and kids live in a very isolated area (literally, on a lake island on Hickory Hills Lake) and have to get supplies via boat. Process servers also can't deliver court documents to him since they do not know where he lives. Beach, however, regularly communicates with the Rock-afire's fanbase via his Zetaboards and social media accounts. Musical equipment Guitars * 1966 La Baye 2x4 "Six" - This was Beach Bear's first guitar, and his second favorite. In the 90's, his sister Barbara Stringsband added overdrive and fuzz units to the guitar, which were a Ibanez Tube Screamer and a Mosrite Fuzzrite that were stripped of their casing and placed into holes cut into the guitar body. The new "casing" for the units was cut pieces of willow wood spraypainted in the body's exact shade of red and covered with Rustins' Plastic Coating. Beach bought a second red "Six" in 1998. Beach uses 2x4 #2 for "Little Sister" and "Sal's Birthday", hooked up to a heavily modified Gibson EH-150, while he uses 2x4 #1 for "My Boyfriend's Back" and "Countdown!" * Fender Jag-Swing-Star-Tele-Sonic - Custom built by Beach for the Gee, Our First Album promotional tour with parts from a Fender Jaguar, a Fender Swinger, a Fender Starcaster, a Fender Telecaster, a Yamaha SG-5, and a Ibanez Iceman. The name of the guitar was coined in 1995 when the Fender Jag-Stang, the brainchild of Kurt Cobain of the Grunge band Nirvana, hit the market. The guitar is Sparkly Silver with Tortoiseshell scratchplates. The guitar's cable port is a hex flange bolt, while the bridge was kit-bashed from a Steinberger System bridge and a Telecaster bridge. The pick-ups are custom-made. * "Wasp" - Built by Alaskan luthier Steven Yellowhair for Beach, and styled after a EDP Wasp, the Wasp has a custom black body made of balsa wood spraypainted black and covered with Rustins' Plastic Coating and a black surface texture plastic, and a left-handed Fender replacement neck, painted black with yellow inlay dots, and a copy of the classic Wasp logo. Used by Beach Bear on the "Song For A Future Generation" cover and on live performances of "Cute Girl" and "Little Arrows" * Erlewine Guitars Chiquita Travel Guitar - Beach Bear owns two Chiquitas, one in Yellow and one in Candy Apple Red. * Gibson Les Paul Juniors - Beach Bear has used both single-cutaway and double-cutaway Juniors since the 1990's. His current Juniors are a Gloss Yellow-colored 2015 single-cut Junior, a TV Yellow-colored 1958 double-cut Junior, and a Sunburst-colored 1955 single-cut Junior. * 1986 Cort Effector - Beach owns a Gibson Explorer-style version, modified with a pickup toggle switch and Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Model Humbucker Pickups. * 1982 Ibanez Destroyer II - Beach's Destroyer II is Candy Apple Red with gold humbucking pickups. The volume and tone knobs have been replaced with Gibson Accessories Top Hat Knobs in Vintage Amber. * 2014 Silvertone Model 1449 - Beach revealed his Model 1449 at the 2015 Hoggference in Paris. Synthesizers * EML Poly-Box - Beach's Poly-Box was rescued from an antique store dumpster, and was restored by his sister. * Roland D-50 - Beach's current touring synth along with his Poly-Box and EDP Wasp and Gnat. * EDP Wasp - Beach's Wasp was bought by him in 1978, and has stayed with him since. * EDP Gnat - Beach's Gnat was bought by him in 1979, a year after his EDP Wasp. * The Little Man - A Super Soaker Hydro Blitz water gun outfitted with electric systems, an amplifier port, and Dreadbox NYX Synthesizer and Zvex Effects Fuzz Factory modules, along with a membrane keyboard off a EDP Gnat synthesizer. * Tyco HotKeyz Amplifiers * Komet Constellation - The amplifier used currently by him. Category:People